Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh speaks during an interview for Reuters Next conference, in Beirut, Lebanon Nov. 23, 2021. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters/File Photo)
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BDL governor Riad Salameh will not appear at a hearing previously scheduled for today in Paris after three failed attempts by security forces to notify him of the summons, a senior judiciary source told L'Orient Today. Salameh proved “untraceable” at BDL headquarters, which was the address mentioned in the letter and consequently the only place the summons can be delivered. Judge Charbel Abou Samra, who is heading the local investigation into Salameh, refused French Judge Aude Buresi’s attempt to deliver the summons during a hearing with the central bank chief in March. French authorities intended to formally charge Salameh today, on claims that he submitted doctored bank documents to legitimize embezzled funds, according to French court documents addressed to the governor. Next week, the French judiciary is expected to discuss a restitution request for assets linked to Salameh worth tens of millions of euros — which, along with other assets seized across Europe, allegedly conceal hundreds of millions of euros’ worth of funds embezzled from the BDL. Despite facing five European probes and several local investigations, Salameh has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Dozens of protesters demanded the release of Lebanese nationals detained in the United Arab Emirates during a demonstration outside the Grand Serail in downtown Beirut. One protester decried to L’Orient Today that detainees who “have not committed any crime” are being held for “security reasons” without access to lawyers. The protest follows an announcement on Thursday that Lebanese national Ghazi Ezzedine allegedly died under torture on May 4, while in Emirati custody. “The UAE must launch an independent and impartial investigation,” Amnesty International researcher Sima Watling told AFP Friday, criticizing the country’s alleged “record of arbitrary detention” and an attempt “to hide the real cause of the death.” The Lebanese Foreign Ministry on Saturday announced that caretaker “Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib met with his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan,” adding that Lebanon’s Ambassador to the UAE would visit Ezzedine’s family.
Cart vendors used burning tires to block a road leading to caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s house in Mina, Tripoli to protest the municipality’s decision to ban them from the corniche. L’Orient Today’s correspondent in the area said the Lebanese Army stopped the protest and extinguished the fire, which reached trees in the garden surrounding Mikati's house. “We will not stop them from using their carts or portable kiosks, on condition that they don't fixate them on one spot on the corniche,” a member of the Mina municipality told L’Orient Today, claiming that cart vendors had taken up large areas of the corniche and obstructed pedestrians.
“I am ready to withdraw [my candidacy] for a candidate located at the crossroads between the united opposition and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM),” presidential candidate and Zgharta MP Michel Moawad said on Sunday. Moawad called on the FPM to “take its responsibilities” in the election, appealing to the party’s refusal to support his contender, Marada Movement leader Sleiman Frangieh. FPM spokesperson Maya Maalouf told L’Orient Today that the party refuses Frangieh because they find that he is “clearly not representative of Christian public opinion,” and based on the Marada Movement’s track record at the head of ministries. Hezbollah and the Amal Movement announced their support for Frangieh after eleven failed attempts by Parliament to elect a president and no 12th vote in sight. Downplaying FPM leader Gebran Bassil’s supposed role as a “kingmaker,” an opposition MP anonymously told L’Orient Today the FPM head would not support a candidate “without the green light” from Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Hezbollah, despite affirming its support for Frangieh, retained the possibility of backing a consensus candidate. After the absence of a successor to Michel Aoun at the end of his term on Oct. 31 caused controversy over the powers of Parliament and the caretaker cabinet, the next point of contention appears to be the upcoming end to embattled central bank chief Riad Salameh’s mandate.
After a two-day search, Beirut’s Civil Defense found the body of a man who drowned while swimming in the sea off Raouche. The Civil Defense began their search for Ali Abdullah Saturday after rescuing another man from drowning. The two men apparently struggled with the current and rising tide, the Civil Defense said on Saturday.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “The rise and fall of the ‘club of 13’”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz